Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-06-01

there is lots Of grass along the road if can't
get forage for them. Besides, the cart will
be nearly empty, so can carry muid OF
mealies and fifty bundles of forage with me-
will take that Zulu boy, Mouti (medicine),
with me- He does not know much about
horses, but he is O plucky fellow, and would
stick by one at q pinch. One can't rely on
Jantie; he is always sneaking off somewhere,
and would be sure to get drunk just as one
wanted him."
ayes, yes, John, that's right, that's right, I"
said the old man II will so and see about
having the horses got up and the wheels
creased. Where is the castor oil, Bessiea
There is nothing like castor oil for these
patent axles. You ought to be off in nh hour.
You had better sleep at Luck's tonight; you
might get farther, but Luck's is good place
to stop, and they will look after you well
there, and you can be off by in the morning
and be at Heidelberg by 10 o'clock tomorrow
night and in Pretoria by the next afternoon"
and he hustled off to make the necessary
preparations.
"Oh, john" said Bessie, beginning to cry, II
don't like your going at all among those wild
Beers. You are an English officer, and If
they find you out they will shoot ,you, You
don't know what brutes some Of them are
when they think it safe to be SO. Oh, John,
John, I can't bear your going"
~'Cheer up, my DEAR" said John, sand for
Heavens sake stop crying, for I can't bear it.
must CO. Your uncle would never forgive
me if didn't, and, what is more, should
never forgive myself There is nobody else
to 70, and we can't leave Jess to be shut up
there in Pretoria-for months perhaps. As
for the risk, of course there is bit OF risk,
but must take 1t. am not afraid of risks
at least used not to be, but you have made
a bit of coward Of me, Bessie dear. There,
give Inc kiss, old girl, and come and help
me to pack my things. Please God l shall
get back all right, and jess with me, in
week from now"
Whereon Bessie, being sensible md emil
nently practical young woman, dried her
tears, and with cheerful face, albeit her
heart was heavy enough, set to work with
will to make every preparation she could
think of. The few clothes John was going to
take with him were packed in Gladstone
bag, and the box that was arranged under
meath the movable seat in the Cape cart
was filed with the timed provisions that are
so much used in Sc i Africa, and all the
other little alrangemer' 5, small in themselves,
Lut of such infinite Importance to the tray-
eler in wild country, were duly attended to
by her careful hands Then came hurried
meal and before it was swallowed the cart was
at the door, with Jantje hanging as usual on
to the heads Of the two front horses, and the
stalwart Zulu, or rather Swat boy, Mouti,
whose sole luggage appeared to consist OF o
bundle of assegais and sticks wrapped up in
grass mat and who, hot as it was, was en-
veloped in vast military great coat, loung-
ing placidly alongside.
"Good by, John, dear John," said Bessie,
kissing him again and again, and striving to
keep back the tears that. do what she could,
would gather in her blue eyes. "Good by,
my love-"
"God bless you, dearest" be said, simply,
kissing her in answer; "good by, MIR. Croft,
hope to see you again in week" and no
was in the cart and had gathered up the long
and intricate looking reins. Jantje let go
the horses heads and gave whoop Mouti,
giving up star gazing, suddenly became an
animated being and scrambled into the cart
with surprising alacrity; the horses sprang
forward at hand gallop and were soon hid
den from Bessie's dim sight in cloud OF dust.
Poor Bessie! It was hard trial; and now
that John had gone and her tears could not
distress him, she went into her room and
gave way to them freely enough.
John reached Luck's, an establishment on
the Pretoria road that happily combined the
characteristics of an inn, shop and farm
house, such as are to be met with in sparsely
populated countries. 1t was not an inn and
not a farm house, strictly speaking, nor was
it altogether a shop, though there was
"store" attached. If the traveller were an1-
ious to obtain accommodation for man and
beast at place of this stamp he had to pro-
ceed walily, 50 to speak. lest he should be re-
qucsted to move on. He must advance, hat
in hand, and ask to be taken in as a favor, as
many high handed traveller, accustomed to
the obSequious attentions Of "mine host,
has learned to his cost. There is DO
such dreadful autocrat as your half and half
inn keeper in South Africa, and then he Is so
completely master OF the situation. III you
don't like it, go and be id to you," is his
simple answer to tie remonstrances OF the
infuriated voyager And then you muss
either knock under and look as though you
wilderness. On this occasion, however, John
farcd well enough. 10 begin with be knew
the owners of this place, who were very civil
people if approached in humble spirit, and,
furthermore, he found everybody i'll such q
state of unpleasurable excitement that they
were only too glad to get another Englishman
to talk tho matters over with. Not that
their Information amounted to much, how
ever. There was rumor Of the Bronkers
Spruit disaster and other rumors OF the in
vestment of Pretoria, and of the advance Of
large bodies of Beers to take possession Of the
pass over the Drakensburg, known as Laings
Mex, but there was no definite intelligence.
"You won't get into Pretoria" said one
melancholy man. $50 it's no use trying. The
Beers will just catch you and kill you, and
there viii be an end of it. You had better
leave the girl to look after herself and go
back to Mooifontein."
But this was not Johns view Of the matter.
"Wcll," he said, "at any rate, I'll have q try. "
Indeed, he had sort Of bulldog sentiment
about him that led him to believe that, if he
made up his mind to do thing, he would do
it somehow, unless he should be physically i'll
capacitated by circumstances beyond his own
control 1t Is wonderful how far mood Of
this sort will take man. Indeed, it is the
widespread possession Of this sentiment that
has made England what she is. Now it is be-
ginning to die down and be legislated out of
our national character, and the results are
already commencing to appear in the incip-
lent decay Of our power. We cannot gov
ern Ireland. It is beyond us; let Ireland
have home rule! We cannot cope with our
imperial responsibilities; let them be cast off /;
and so on. The Englishmen Of fifty years ago
did not talk like this. Well, every nation be-
comes emasculated sooner or later, that seems
to be the universal fate; and 1t appears that
it is our lot to be emasculated, not by the
want Of law, but by plethora Of 1t. This
country was made, not by governments, but
mostly in despite of them by the independent
efforts of series Of individuals. The tell
dency nowadays is to merge the individual i'll
the government, and to limit and even
forcibly destroy personal enterprise and re-
sponsibility. Everything Is to be legislated
for or legislated against. The system is only
in its bud as yet. When it blooms the enl-
pire will lose touch of its individual atoms and
become vast, soulless machine, which will
first get out Of order, then break down, and,
last Of all, break up. We owe more to sturdy,
determined, unconvincible Englishlnen like
John Mel than we realize, OF, perhaps, should
be willing to acknowledge in these enlight-
ened days.
[TO BE CONTINUED.
pTIJoJIAEE SpFEn ccOr(l.